{"id":2041026,"date":"2026-07-13T16:20:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2041026"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:20:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:20:54","slug":"halo-studios-reportedly-cancels-halo-multiplayer-project-ekur-which-had-customisable-spartans-and-elites-and-large-player-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2041026","title":{"rendered":"Halo Studios reportedly cancels Halo multiplayer project Ekur, which had customisable Spartans and Elites and large player battles"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Halo Studios reportedly cancels Halo multiplayer project Ekur, which had customisable Spartans and Elites and large player battles<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Arbiter my fist in anguish.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/halo-campaign-evolved-reveal-screen-11.jpeg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"halo-campaign-evolved-reveal-screen-11.jpeg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Halo Studios, Xbox.<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/robert-purchese\">Robert Purchese<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Associate Editor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-07-13T16:20:54+00:00\">July 13, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"06300b67-d6ee-41ba-bb29-022bbef4e222\" data-name=\"Halo 5: Guardians\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Halo 5: Guardians\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Halo 5: Guardians\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Halo 5: Guardians\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Halo 5: Guardians\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Halo 5: Guardians\" title=\"Follow Halo 5: Guardians\"><br \/>\n  Follow Halo 5: Guardians<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Halo Studios has reportedly cancelled a multiplayer project called Ekur, in a move that seems to align with the wide-ranging Xbox cuts announced last week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WhknuoDR1TY\">Halo reporter Rebs Gaming originated the story<\/a> on YouTube, saying they&#8217;d heard from multiple employees at Halo Studios that Project Ekur was no longer in development. The claim was backed up this afternoon by well-Microsoft-connected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windowscentral.com\/gaming\/i-was-verbally-blasted-by-pierre-xbox-and-halo-studios-pierre-hintze-has-reportedly-repeatedly-been-referred-to-hr-for-antagonistic-behavior\">Windows Central reporter Jez Corden, who said<\/a> the information was &#8220;100 percent true&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>A week earlier, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=augAXQvS4SI\">Rebs Gaming had declared Project Ekur &#8211; &#8220;or at least part of it&#8221; &#8211; would be the next multiplayer Halo game<\/a>, based on information from someone who&#8217;d worked with Halo Studios, plus a separate &#8220;someone else&#8221;. Nevertheless, a &#8220;recent development&#8221; changed this outcome and prompted the newer claim that the project is dead.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Halo: Campaign Evolved - Official Cinematic Story Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4r4ywvts2pc?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/4r4ywvts2pc\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Halo: Campaign Evolved &#8211; Official Cinematic Story Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Halo: Campaign Evolved. (Or is it?)<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4r4ywvts2pc\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nowhere does Rebs Gaming mention the Xbox cuts as a reason why this has happened. The only possible explanation cited is &#8220;major development problems&#8221; with Halo 1 remake Halo: Campaign Evolved, which apparently sucked people away. &#8220;Sometime after that, Ekur was cancelled,&#8221; said Rebs Gaming, giving no further detail.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Project Ekur was reportedly prototyped by Certain<a href=\"https:\/\/www.certainaffinity.com\/games\/halo\/\"> Affinity, a studio Xbox has worked with numerous times in the past<\/a>. Certain Affinity built multiplayer maps for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-2\">Halo 2<\/a>, and worked on a handful of Halo projects, up to and including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-the-master-chief-collection\">Halo: The Master Chief Collection<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Certain Affinity reportedly got the go-ahead from Halo Studios to develop Project Ekur after an Unreal-powered battle royale Halo experiment, called Tatanka, didn&#8217;t work out. Project Ekur would carry on exploring Unreal &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/what-halo-on-unreal-engine-5-means-for-ps5\">coincidentally the engine Campaign Evolved is built on<\/a> &#8211; and use Tatanka&#8217;s map alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-infinite\">Halo Infinite<\/a>&#8216;s Slipspace map.<\/p>\n<p>The Project Ekur prototype faced a green-light verdict in September 2023, Rebs Gaming said, and succeeded, after which an extraction shooter idea was toyed with before a &#8220;super big-team-battle idea&#8221; was settled on instead. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/watch-20-minutes-of-halo-5-warzone-gameplay\">Halo 5 Warzone<\/a> was cited as a touchstone for the project, and Project Ekur reportedly had playable Spartans and Elites, and full character customisation.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not clear at what point &#8211; if at all &#8211; Certain Affinity handed the project over to Halo Studios, but dataminers and other Halo scrutinisers found evidence of the game existing on the studio&#8217;s servers relatively recently.<\/p>\n<p>With Project Ekur reportedly cancelled, a question is left dangling about whether there&#8217;ll be any competitive multiplayer modes to accompany Halo: Campaign Evolved at any point. That game has co-op, remember, but nothing else.<\/p>\n<p>Halo: Campaign Evolved is out in a couple of weeks, and despite divisive first impressions, does actually seem to be rather good. &#8220;I went into Halo: Campaign Evolved thinking it didn&#8217;t need to exist,&#8221; wrote Dom in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/halo-campaign-evolved-hands-on\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Halo: Campaign Evolved preview<\/a> recently, &#8220;but after playing two levels I want full remakes of the original trilogy and Reach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Halo Studios has reportedly cancelled a multiplayer project called Ekur, in a move that seems to align with the wide-ranging Xbox cuts announced last week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WhknuoDR1TY\">Halo reporter Rebs Gaming originated the story<\/a> on YouTube, saying they&#8217;d heard from multiple employees at Halo Studios that Project Ekur was no longer in development. The claim was backed up this afternoon by well-Microsoft-connected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windowscentral.com\/gaming\/i-was-verbally-blasted-by-pierre-xbox-and-halo-studios-pierre-hintze-has-reportedly-repeatedly-been-referred-to-hr-for-antagonistic-behavior\">Windows Central reporter Jez Corden, who said<\/a> the information was &#8220;100 percent true&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>A week earlier, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=augAXQvS4SI\">Rebs Gaming had declared Project Ekur &#8211; &#8220;or at least part of it&#8221; &#8211; would be the next multiplayer Halo game<\/a>, based on information from someone who&#8217;d worked with Halo Studios, plus a separate &#8220;someone else&#8221;. Nevertheless, a &#8220;recent development&#8221; changed this outcome and prompted the newer claim that the project is dead.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Halo: Campaign Evolved - Official Cinematic Story Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4r4ywvts2pc?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/4r4ywvts2pc\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Halo: Campaign Evolved &#8211; Official Cinematic Story Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Halo: Campaign Evolved. (Or is it?)<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4r4ywvts2pc\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nowhere does Rebs Gaming mention the Xbox cuts as a reason why this has happened. The only possible explanation cited is &#8220;major development problems&#8221; with Halo 1 remake Halo: Campaign Evolved, which apparently sucked people away. &#8220;Sometime after that, Ekur was cancelled,&#8221; said Rebs Gaming, giving no further detail.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Project Ekur was reportedly prototyped by Certain<a href=\"https:\/\/www.certainaffinity.com\/games\/halo\/\"> Affinity, a studio Xbox has worked with numerous times in the past<\/a>. Certain Affinity built multiplayer maps for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-2\">Halo 2<\/a>, and worked on a handful of Halo projects, up to and including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-the-master-chief-collection\">Halo: The Master Chief Collection<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Certain Affinity reportedly got the go-ahead from Halo Studios to develop Project Ekur after an Unreal-powered battle royale Halo experiment, called Tatanka, didn&#8217;t work out. Project Ekur would carry on exploring Unreal &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/what-halo-on-unreal-engine-5-means-for-ps5\">coincidentally the engine Campaign Evolved is built on<\/a> &#8211; and use Tatanka&#8217;s map alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/halo-infinite\">Halo Infinite<\/a>&#8216;s Slipspace map.<\/p>\n<p>The Project Ekur prototype faced a green-light verdict in September 2023, Rebs Gaming said, and succeeded, after which an extraction shooter idea was toyed with before a &#8220;super big-team-battle idea&#8221; was settled on instead. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/watch-20-minutes-of-halo-5-warzone-gameplay\">Halo 5 Warzone<\/a> was cited as a touchstone for the project, and Project Ekur reportedly had playable Spartans and Elites, and full character customisation.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not clear at what point &#8211; if at all &#8211; Certain Affinity handed the project over to Halo Studios, but dataminers and other Halo scrutinisers found evidence of the game existing on the studio&#8217;s servers relatively recently.<\/p>\n<p>With Project Ekur reportedly cancelled, a question is left dangling about whether there&#8217;ll be any competitive multiplayer modes to accompany Halo: Campaign Evolved at any point. That game has co-op, remember, but nothing else.<\/p>\n<p>Halo: Campaign Evolved is out in a couple of weeks, and despite divisive first impressions, does actually seem to be rather good. &#8220;I went into Halo: Campaign Evolved thinking it didn&#8217;t need to exist,&#8221; wrote Dom in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/halo-campaign-evolved-hands-on\">Eurogamer&#8217;s Halo: Campaign Evolved preview<\/a> recently, &#8220;but after playing two levels I want full remakes of the original trilogy and Reach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"poll_wrapper\" data-fixed=\"true\" data-hashid data-init=\"false\" data-poll-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Halo Studios reportedly cancels Halo multiplayer project Ekur, which had customisable Spartans and Elites and large player battles Arbiter my fist in anguish. Image credit: Halo Studios, Xbox. News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on July 13, 2026 Follow Halo 5: Guardians Halo Studios has reportedly cancelled a multiplayer project called Ekur, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2041026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2041026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2041026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2041026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2041026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}